Saturday, September 22, 2007

South Carolina: Post Game

Alright, let's get one thing straight before I even read the message boards or anything. We just beat a pretty good team with our quarterback at well below 100% in weather conditions that made everything difficult. Flynn gutted out a performance and we got a big win against a team that I think EVERYONE is going to have trouble beating.

OK, we have that out of the way. What thought processes could possibly have been going through the coaches' heads to make them think Flynn should have been playing in the 4th quarter. Flynn ended the game 8 of 19 with 71 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Let's just say his GTQBPI is going to be ugly with those stats. He clearly was not even close to being his usual self, and Perrilloux has been nothing short of awesome when he's gotten to play. In the 4th quarter, Flynn did everything the coaches must have feared Perrilloux would do. He threw an interception and he couldn't complete a pass. He didn't run aggressively and didn't throw accurately.

Perrilloux was excellent in a limited role. With Flynn ailing, Perrilloux's role not only wasn't expanded. It was contracted. He only threw one pass, and honestly I don't remember it. He did nothing but run the ball or hand it off, but he did it well. I really do not understand why Perrilloux didn't play more.

In the last quarter, it became obvious that Flynn was handing off virtually every time, and would only throw on obvious throwing downs. In addition to that limitation, everyone knew he wasn't a threat to run anymore. Perrilloux would have at LEAST made USC play against the QB run, and he was probably a bigger passing threat as well.

Should the Flynns happen to run into this blog, I just want to say that they seem like very lovely people. They're great sports about their son looking like Matt Damon, which is hardly an insult. Matt Damon's a good looking fella.

Alright, before I watch replays, let me just say that the offensive line sure looked great for big stretches of this game. It was probably the best game they played all year, and we proved we can ride the running game to victory when the passing game isn't working, even against a pretty good team. South Carolina is definitely a bowl-calibre team, and looks like they may challenge for the East. I started the week questioning their #12 ranking, but I hope they don't lose it. They played against a buzz saw of a defense and a very capable offense and had long stretches of effectiveness against both.